The Santero Ideal

When one thinks of Spanish Colonial art in the Southwest it is usually of New Mexico and the famous Spanish Market of Santa Fe. But New Mexico isn’t the only home of Spanish Colonial art and artists in the Southwest. Colorado also has an equally long tradition of these arts. In fact, the only reason we know less about them than those of New Mexico is because of a historical accident-a change of borders. Up until 1861, when the Colorado Territory was established, what is now southern Colorado up to the Arkansas River was actually the New Mexico Territory, and its arts and artists were one and the same. And yet, owing to this change of borders, the Spanish Colonial arts and artists of the modern state of Colorado have not received the same attention as those of New Mexico. To remedy this situation, artist and scholar, Netanel Miles-Yépez, set out to document the life and work of Colorado based santera (’saint-maker’), Teresa May Duran, a native Coloradan who has continued the traditional Spanish Colonial art of retablo making as practiced in the old New Mexico Territory, questioning her about her personal history and training, as well as her methods and subjects. In this work, we are a given a rare glimpse into the motivations and actual techniques of a traditional Spanish Colonial retablo maker of the American Southwest. 3